Scientist died after G-Wiz car imploded as she drove to child's school for parents' evening

A leading scientist died when the tiny electric car she was driving ‘crumpled and imploded’ in a crash, an inquest heard yesterday.

Judit Nadal’s G-Wiz disintegrated in the collision with a much heavier Skoda Octavia whose driver survived.

The death has added to concerns about the safety of the G-Wiz which is exempt from standard vehicle testing because it is classified as a quadricycle due to its low weight and limited power.

The hearing was told Mrs Nadal was late for a parents’ evening at her 11-year-old son’s school and was not wearing a seatbelt as she thought it would crumple her clothes.

Judit Nadal died in the crash after her car, a G-Wiz 'crumpled and imploded' when it collided with Skoda Octavia. An eyewitness described the car's reaction to the impact as 'illogical'

She had been talking by phone to her husband just before the crash, telling him in a panic: ‘I think I have made a mistake.’ The line then went dead. The crash happened a few streets from Mrs Nadal’s home and was heard by her husband Miguel, a doctor.

Deidre Allen, who saw the accident, said: ‘I was transfixed, I was shocked at what I was seeing. I have seen quite a few car accidents and the car, its reaction wasn’t logical. It was crumpling, it was imploding.’

Environmentalists have hailed the two-seat G-Wiz for its contribution to cleaner air, but experts have warned that even low-speed accidents can result in ‘life-threatening’ injuries for those inside.

Mrs Nadal was a leading academic at Imperial College, London, at the time of her death

AA president Edmund King said: ‘When the G-Wiz has undergone safety tests it has failed appallingly. We have raised concerns about this because even though it is meant for driving around towns, you can cause devastating injuries when just going at 30 or 40mph.’

Mrs Nadal was taking an unfamiliar route when the crash happened last October, North London Coroner’s Court heard. The 47-year-old mother of four, who worked at Imperial College London, suffered internal bleeding and a ruptured spleen.

She was trying to turn right at a junction when Marcel Jorja crashed into her. It is believed that they both moved on a green light, but he had right of way.

Dr Nadal, 62, of Golders Green, North-West London, said he had told his wife to get off the phone moments before the crash.

He said: ‘My wife said with a panic something like “I think I have made a mistake”. I think she had moved out at that stage and seen the vehicle bearing down at her.

‘I said “Well get off your phone then and concentrate”.’

Dr Nadal said he took his iPhone from his ear as the line went dead. He then heard the smash and ran to the scene when he could not contact his wife on her BlackBerry.

He added: ‘I suspect she wasn’t wearing her seatbelt because she was quite vain and didn’t want to crumple her coat.’ Mr Jorja broke down as he said through a Romanian translator: ‘I tried to avoid a collision, I tried as much as I could to turn left, I didn’t think it was so close so I tried the brakes but they didn’t work in time.’ Coroner Andrew Walker told him he was not to blame.

PC Simon Keeling said he couldn’t tell how fast the cars were travelling as the Skoda was a ton heavier than the G-Wiz.

Mr Walker said: ‘What concerns me is that this vehicle was destroyed in this collision in a way that I have not seen a vehicle destroyed before.’

Dr Nadal suggested that his wife might have misinterpreted the traffic signals and Dr Walker will recommend that the sequence should be changed at the A41 Hendon Way junction with The Vale, near Golders Green. He recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Mrs Nadal was director of the Proteomics Facility at Imperial’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering. Proteomics is the study of proteins and can help find the cure to many diseases by identifying the proteins in human cells.

Dr Nadal described the G-Wiz, which is made by the Indian firm Reva, as ‘a lovely little car for pottering around London’ which needed to be driven with an ‘appreciation of risk’ like a motorbike. He added: ‘It is very much not the vehicle to have a collision with another car in because they are obviously very flimsy.’

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Scientist died after G-Wiz imploded as she drove to child's school for parents' evening